Wine intolerance affects 7%

Article By: Amy Rispel

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New research indicates that about seven percent of people may have a wine intolerance.

According to an article from the Huffington Post, a study from the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz found that 8.9 percent of women and 5.2 percent of men showed signs of intolerance to wine.

The researchers reviewed answers from 948 participants aged between 20 and 69 after sending out questionnaires to 4000 people (the rest didn’t respond or complete it), asking how much alcohol they consumed, how often and if they experienced any allergy-like symptoms after drinking it.

The most common symptoms participants noted were itchiness, runny nose and flushed skin. Others included are stomach cramps, diahorrhea and a rapid heart rate.

Participants also seemed to display more symptoms after drinking red rather than white wine. Furthermore, those who showed wine intolerance symptoms also showed intolerances to other foods as well.

The researchers say that the intolerance percentage may be higher as not everyone responded, and respondents weren’t asked if they suffered from any headache symptoms.

The study was published in the German Science journal, Deutsches Arzteblatt International.

Food allergy vs intolerance

An allergy is your immune system responding to something you've eaten – more specifically an ingredient – and regarding it as harmful. Intolerance occurs when your body can't digest a particular ingredient. For example, lactose intolerance occurs because your body can't digest the milk sugar, lactase, found in dairy products. So while both allergies and intolerances can display similar symptoms, the difference is in the severity of the response.

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